AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Meston lists the uses that Aboriginal people made of message sticks, including arrangements for inter-tribal corroborees, war and marriage. He describes the governance of tribes between the Hunter and Tweed Rivers as consisting of the oldest man (the 'Yooloori') with a subordinate chief, who trained the young men for hunting and warfare. The message stick's decorations were to remind the bearer of his instructions.A coda to the article, entitled 'Sturt's Terrible Rite,' refers to castration as a practice of the Aborigines of Central Australia, including the 'Calcadoons' of the McKinley Ranges and Cloncurry. 'They are a savage and warlike race and are dying out untamed.'